IBC Digital

IBC Digital, formerly FDN and BEdigital, was a Flarlandian digital terrestrial television operator founded in 1997 that started operating services in 1998 and shut down in 2002. During the operator's last year, it was owned by IBC. Low audience figures and piracy issueled to the broadcaster suffering massive losses, forcing it to enter administration in March 2002. The service ceased permanently in May 2002, with the terrestrial multiplexes subsequently taken over by the FBC and UWB to create Freeview in October 2002.

History[edit | edit source]

On January 31st, 1997, two of Flarland's broadcasters, IBC and Channel Ten, were given the right to operate Flarlandian Digital Networks, a private company with government interference. The government would act as a mediator between the broadcasters and the platform. FDN defeated rivals Cabletel and United Cable Services (ironically enough they would soon be part of Cable Flarland which IBC owned and is now Toggle). IBC operated the service through its telecommunications division, Cable and Satellite Flarland (Cable Flarland and FST).

The government decided to auction off six multiplexes that had eight channels each. Two of the multiplexes were going to be used by the terrestrial broadcasters for use in FTA transmissions and the remaining four were paid services.

Launch[edit | edit source]

In January 1998, FDN revealed its commercial name for their operations: BEdigital. The name was chosen because of the initial ad campaign: viewers wanted to become a part of the digital platform. Test transmissions were conducted during the spring of 1998 and regular broadcasts started on 1 June 1998, timed with the then-upcoming World Cup held in Northulia. The MUXes were shared between broadcasters and the main operators were the FBC and UWB. The structure of the FTA multiplexes was as follows:

MUX A (FBC):

MUX B (UWB):

From the onset, however, the service was quickly losing money. Supply problems with set-top boxes meant that the company missed summer sales, yet they were stabilized somewhat by Christmas. Meanwhile, aggressive marketing by Cable Flarland and FST for their digital services made the BEdigital offer look unattractive. The new digital satellite service provided a dish, decoder, installation and around 200 channels for 99$, a lower price than BEdigital at 119$. BEdigital's subscription pricing had been set to compare with the older FST analog service of 35 channels. In 1999, digital cable services were launched by smaller cable companies, as Cable Flarland was testing the new platform on cable. ONdigital reported in February 1999 that it had 140,000 subscribers. FST Digital, however, had over 400,000 by this time.

Interactive services were added on the platform in October 1998. The first services were the digital text services operated by three of the four broadcasters (FBC, IBC and UWB). In April 1999, BEgames launched. In October 1999, BEWeb launched. About one million people were subscribed to the service, 95% were subscribed at least to the basic package. There was a noteworthy increase due to their Millennium Campaign which ran during the fall of 1999.

Problems[edit | edit source]

Problems erupted in 2000. BEdigital's growth slowed throughout 2000 and by the start of 2001, the number of subscribers stopped increasing; meanwhile, its competitors FST Digital and Cable Flarland were still growing. The BEdigital management team hoped to obtain the upper hand by a series of 'free set top box' promotions when BEdigital receiving equipment was purchased at the same time as a television set or similarly priced piece of equipment. These offers eventually became permanent, with the set-top box 'loaned' to the customer at no charge for as long as they continued to subscribe to BEdigital.

Additional problems for BEdigital were the choice of 64QAM broadcast mode, which when coupled with far weaker than expected broadcast power, meant that the signal was weak in many areas; complex pricing structure, comprising many menu options; a poor-quality subscriber management system; a paper magazine TV guide whereas FST-Cable Flarland had a fully-functional electronic programme guide (EPG); insufficient technical customer services; and much signal piracy. While there was a limited return path provided via an in-built 2400 baud modem, there was no requirement to connect the set-top box's modem to a phone line.

Later problems occurred when BEdigital began to sell prepaid set-top boxes (under the name BEprepaid) from November 1999. This bundle sold in high street stores and supermarkets at a price that included – in theory – the set-top box on loan and the first year's subscription package. These prepaid boxes amounted to 50% of sales in December 1999. Thousands of these packages were also sold at well below retail price on auction sites such as the then-popular QXL. As the call to activate the viewing card did not require any bank details, many ONdigital boxes which were technically on loan were at unverifiable addresses. This was later changed so a customer could not walk away with a box without ONdigital verifying their address. Many customers did not activate the viewing card at all, although where the viewer's address was known, BEdigital would write informing them that they must activate before a certain deadline.

The BEdigital pay-per-view channels had been encrypted using a system – SECA MediaGuard – which had subsequently been cracked. BEdigital did not update this system, theref=ore it was possible to produce and sell counterfeit subscription cards which would give access to all the channels. About 100,000 pirate cards were in circulation by 2002, and these played a role in the demise of the broadcaster that year.

Rebranding[edit | edit source]

In January 2001 it was said that BEdigital will be 'relaunched' to bring it closer to the IBC network and to better compete with FST-Cable Flarland. On 1 June 2001, IBC rebranded BEdigital as IBC Digital. Other services were also rebranded, such as BEnet to IBC Active. A re-branding campaign was launched to support the new naming, with customers being sent IBC Digital stickers to place over the existing BEdigital logos on their remote controls and set top boxes. The software running on the receivers was not changed though, and always displayed 'BE' on nearly every screen. A plan to change the onscreen software was planned along with a change to a stronger encryption system in Autumn 2002, however this never happened due to IBC Digital's collapse by that time.

Later in 2001, IBC Free Sports was announced. This would be a FTA sports channel, and would broadcast one Flarlandian League football match (as long as none of the main teams were playing) as well as ATP tennis games and Champions League games previously covered by BEsport 1 and BEsport 2. The channel launched on 11 August that year.

Downfall[edit | edit source]

By June 2001, it was clear to most that BEdigital had lost the fight against FST and the cable operators. The service just passed 2 million subscribers by January, whereas FST-Cable Clarland had 6.4 million. IBC Digital was unable to make a deal to put IBC Free Sports on other operators, which could have given the channel access to millions of cable and satellite customers and generated income. The channel was licensed to cable company FTC. Subcriptions for BEnet/IBC Active, its internet service, were at an estimated 250,000 customers. IBC Digital had just 12% of the share of digital subscribers as of December 2001. IBC Digital was also forced to cut jobs that month. By 2002, the company was thought to be losing up to $1 million per day.[37]

In February 2002, IBC said that IBC Digital needed an urgent "fundamental restructuring".

Administration[edit | edit source]

By 30 April 2002, the Flarlandian Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission had revoked IBC Digital's broadcasting license and started looking for a buyer.

Post-closure[edit | edit source]

Within less than a year, piracy issues skyrocketed and the operator surrended on May 1st, 2002. The public broadcasters operated a temporary service using the FTA channels on the platform and was later given to a new holding company, Freeview, in October.

Marketing[edit | edit source]

As BEdigital, it tended on a minimalistic campaign.

Decoders[edit | edit source]

Nokia Mediamaster 9850T
Pace Micro Technology DTR-730, DTR-735
Philips DTX 6370, DTX 6371, DTX 6372
Pioneer DBR-T200, DBR-T210
Sony VTX-D500U
Nisshiba DTB2000

iDTVs[edit | edit source]

BEdigital and IBC Digital could also be received with an Integrated Digital Television (iDTV) receiver. They used a conditional-access module (CAM) with a smart card, plugged into a DVB Common Interface slot in the back of the set.

Purchasers of iDTVs were given a substantially discounted price on using the BEdigital service, as there was no cost for a set-top box.

Channels[edit | edit source]

IBC Digital created a limited number of channels for the platform. The channels were watered-down versions of the PPV channels on Cable Flarland and FST. There were two channels, BE98 and BE99. When they were carrying PPV sports, theybwere known as BEsports 1 and BEsports 2. In 2001, IBC Free Sports launched broadcasting selected highlights of the premium network as well as the ill-fated XFL. Channels 98 and 99 were renamed IBC Select 1 and IBC Select 2. They carried a mix of movies and sport from cable. There was also an FTV information channel.

IBC's cable and satellite channels were also available: Network 7, as an FTA channel, The Comedy Channel and the Wembley News Channel, which IBC acquired a stake in 2000. There was a short-lived IBC Kids channel but it existed for less than a year since it was a paid service and was surrendered to the free and paid channels aimed at kids. It was replaced by Disney Channel as an add-on option.

Chronological order of the channels[edit | edit source]

Bolded channels mean free-to-view channels.

1998[edit | edit source]

June: Launch of the service, featuring the following services:
1 - FBC 1
2 - FBC 2
3 - IBC
4 - local channel (varies by region)
5 - FBC 3
6 - FBC News Channel
7 - Network 7
8 - CFBC Channel
9 - FBC Knowledge
10 - Channel Ten
11 - Teletext Digital
12 - FBC Interactive
13 - Channel Thirteen
14 - Channel 14
15 - Channel 15
16 - Thirteen News Network
17 - K-Zone
18 - Thirteen Digital Teletext
19 - The Parliamentary Channel
20 - First BEdigital
21 - IBC Sports 1
22 - IBC Sports 2
23 - IBC Sports 3
24 - IBC Movies Premiere
25 - IBC Movies Extra
26 - Prime Sports
27 - Cartoon Network
28 - Channel A
29 - Comedy Central
30 - The Comedy Channel
31 - NBS Prime
32 - IBC Food
33 - IBC Kids
34 - IBC World
35 - IBC Men
36 - IBC Breeze
37 - IBC Select
38 - Style TV
39 - Play TV
40 - Top Flicks
41 - FBC Drama
42 - FBC Arts
43 - FBC Music
44 - FBC Comedy
45 - Games 1
46 - Games 2
47 - Games 3
98 - Sports on 98
99 - Sports on 99
101 - FBC Radio 1
102 - FBC Radio 2
103 - FBC Radio 3
104 - FBC Radio 4
105 - FBC Radio 5
106 - SIX
107 - IBC Radio
108 - IBC NewsRadio
109 - The Song
110 - The Breeze

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